A Brief News Comment by Doug Draper
Four years ago, when General Motors operations across North America were on the verge of total financial collapse, Ontario, along with Canada’s federal government, invested more than $10 billion of our tax dollars to help bail the automaker out.![caw flag]](https://niagaraatlarge.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/caw-flag.jpg?w=300&h=267)
Ontario’s unionized auto workers did their part to save GM jobs in Ontario by agreeing to an unprecedented number of wage and benefit concessions – all on faith that the corporation would do everything possible to keep its production lines in the province running.
Now General Motors is paying workers and governments in Canada back by announcing its plans to cease production of its Chevrolet Camaro in Oshawa, Ontario – a decision that could reportedly wipe out more than 3,500 good-paying jobs in that already struggling auto-manufacturing town – and could affect jobs at GM operations in Niagara, Ontario where engines are built for the car.
‘Betrayal’ may not be too strong a word to use in response to GM’s decision to move production of future models of the Camaro to Lansing, Michigan in 2015, said Wayne Gates, president of Local 199 of the Canadian Auto Workers in Niagara, Ontario, told Niagara At Large in an interview.
At the very least, “their p.r. people should be let go for coming out with this just before Christmas” But more than that, added Gates, it is outrageous that GM bosses did not at least grant representatives from his union, and the provincial and federal governments an opportunity to “sit down and have dialogues on what can be done to keep three shifts going in Oshawa (where potentially 2,000 decent-paying jobs are at stake).
Once a manufacturing plant has been cut from three round-the-clock shifts to two or even one, it is viewed costly and less productive to run and becomes more of a target for closure, said Gates.
“It is terrible the way they have handled this, added Gates who is hoping the provincial and federal governments will press GM to reconsider the decision. The governments have to recognize that the more the middle class is eroded through the loss of good-paying jobs, the fewer people will be out there consuming goods and paying taxes. The whole economy will suffer.
Gates said there is no proof the recent passage in Michigan of controversial ‘right-to-work’ legislation that gives unionized workers the option of not paying union dues – even if they have benefitted wage-wise and benefit-wise through collective agreements reached with their employers through their union – had anything to do with the Camaro decision. And CAW national president was reportedly told by GM execs that the decision was in the can before the legislation was signed by Michigan’s governor.
Maybe, but that legislation had been thundering down the hill a bull elephant on a rampage through much of the fall and the governor never seemed to show any doubt it would be passed on behalf of his corporate masters and despite rallies by thousands of union workers and their supporters, including Michigan-born working call hero Michael Moore.
Correct me if I am wrong, but there appears to be a growing trend here of states and provinces across North America falling over themselves to pass legislation aimed at weakening unions and rolling back the wage and benefit gains they made for working people over the last century – all in an effort to attract more corporate business their way.
All of this union-busting business (and we are seeing more of it here in Ontario with the Liberal government using public school teachers as a target to kill collective bargaining and the province’s Conservative opposition leader Tim Hudak’s vow to go after the “union bosses” if he becomes the next premier) has been part and parcel of an ever growing income gap and a flushing of the 99 per cent to the bottom while the upper 1 per cent lavishes itself in diamonds and gold.
How low do the rest of us have to sink before we fight back?
More on this topic later.
(Niagara At Large invites all of you who dare to share your real first and last name to comment on this post. Anonymous comments or those attached to a pseudonym will be transferred to the trash as per NAL’s comment policy which you can access on our home page.)
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The bottom line is the fact that Michigan is on the verge of joining several other US states in becoming what they refer to as “right to work” states. In other words, unions will lose any right they have to sign up members. Companies can pay minimum wage if they want (and will). Look at the former GM locomotive plant in London …. sold to a subsidiary of Caterpillar … then closed to move production to a right-to-work state and Mexico.
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Politics in the USA (adopted by Hudak) has more or less positioned Canada as nothing more than a subservient Colony Thanks to Hard Line Right Winger and the Ideals that the 1% are NOW the Gods of the World…The Bilderberg is alive and it influence is Growing as the rich get richer and their ideals of entitlement matches the greed of the Bilkderberg…Most of Canada high end polliticians are members and the rest are wanna bes
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Damn it Mr Somers (he said, grinning), you and I appear to be on opposite ends of the political spectrum in many ways, yet we agree on so many things.
Yes, I am on the right-hand side of the political spectrum. You, from what I have read of your previous writings, are on the left.
But the fact of the matter remains that we agree, Tim Hudak and the other one-percenters are much too far out on the right (beyond the horizon in my estimation) to be given any opportunity to take control.
Government should be all about the overall good of ALL … not just the rich or the poor.
Tim Hudak and his brethern in the Tea Party in the US are far too dangerous!
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It has occurred to me that what is now called “left” would have been central or even “right wing” not too long ago. The current “right wing” is now Reform/right off the charts. The center of the political spectrum needs to be shifted to the left so that what is now “left” is actually center and what is now “right” is clearly extreme reform. My guess is that the “traditional” Conservatives or Liberals from maybe 10-15 years ago would be shaking their heads at what their respective partys have become.
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I have think that if GM has not paid back the fed bailouts then this would be a breach of faith. With respect to union concessions, I think many will agree that wage levels for this type of work was out of line with reality beforehand and largely contributed to GM and companies like it becoming less competitive than they needed to be to survive.
However if they have paid back those bailouts, they are free to do as they see fit with their operations to satisfy shareholder requirements for profits. These shareholders include the pension plans of teachers, workers…. So to say that the only people benefiting from moves like this are 1%ers’ is I think misleading.
With respect to GM’s decision, it would not have been made if it didn’t make business sense. Perhaps this is a sign that we have to become more competitive as a province and a nation. Perhaps this is why we have to remove the shackles of union influence on the costs to deliver services (especially essential ones) and manufacture products.
The unions in this country have been, at the expense of non-unionized taxpayers, responsible for increasing taxes through outrageous salary and benefit packages for government workers in addition to increasing the cost to manufacture and to deliver non-public sector services to levels seen nowhere else in the G8. That’s the elephant in the room.
With respect to the teachers, I wish the government would approach them all and say ” do you want to work for 10% less – answer yes or no” “To those that do, we are happy that you stayed. To those that don’t there is lineup of qualified people that would happy with even less ready to fill you shoes. Pack your bags”
The ironic thing is that this wouldn’t be happening if union demands didn’t become increasingly insane over the last two decades. I guess they had to justify their existence somehow.
Wish I didn’t have to…. but just sayin….
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One problem with this country is we don’t have enough self-respect. We don’t act like owners. We sell-out our resources, and negotiate trade deals like we’re push-overs: whatever China or the States say, it’s a “Yes master…” type response. We need to control what’s left of our country, instead of being controlled by others. The Hudak “competitiveness” talk is an example of our sell-out. Minimum wage for full time in Australia is around $20.00/hour, and minimum for part time isn’t too far off either. At the end of the day, if people don’t have money in their pockets, they can’t spend, and the economy suffers. Our productivity as a nation is in the sewer, same for our innovation etc. Companies are sitting on 700 billion in dead money that should be returned to shareholders, or better yet, invested in Research and Development and innovation. Instead companies become parasites of the public treasury with their P3 schemes etc.
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